The next CIES research workshop will take place in hybrid format (on site and via Teams) on the afternoon of March 2, 2026, on the topic “On the Construction of Gender and the Role of the School: Representations of Primary School Children".

PRESENTATION
Filipa Godinho, FCT Doctoral Research Fellow

COMMENTARY
Sandra Saleiro, Assistant Professor, ESPP

LINK TEAMS
https://bit.ly/WorkshopCIES 

ABSTRACT

The relationship between the school and the construction of gender has assumed increasing relevance in contemporary times. Within sociology, the school institution not only represents a privileged site for observing the interactions that children establish with those around them, but is also a key agent of socialization; for these two reasons, it constitutes a particularly appropriate setting for the study of gender issues.

The ongoing doctoral thesis, “The Construction of Gender ‘by’ and ‘in’ the School: A Case Study in a Primary School,” therefore seeks to examine the relationship between the school and the construction of gender through these two paradigms. On the one hand, it explores how children construct gender in interaction with those around them, particularly within the school, where they spend most of their daily lives; on the other hand, it considers how the context in which this occurs shapes that construction—namely, how the school itself conditions the construction of gender.

To this end, observation was conducted in a primary school over the course of one academic year, following four classes (one class per grade level, from Year 1 to Year 4). Drawings were produced with all observed children; interviews were carried out with 50 children and with the observed teachers; and materials such as textbooks, worksheets, assessment criteria, evaluation grids, handouts, and notebooks were also collected.

This workshop will give particular attention to the interviews conducted with the children, through which it is possible to access how children establish different gender categories, the characteristics with which they fill those categories, how these relate to other categories such as ethno-racial and class categories, what impact this has on how they experience their everyday lives and imagine their futures, and, finally, what role they attribute to the school in this entire process.